WHITE HOUSE TELLS PUTIN: 'Expel Mr. Snowden Without Delay'

The White House delivered a terse warning to Russia and
President Vladimir Putin Tuesday afternoon, saying it had a
"clear legal basis" to expel National Security Agency leak source
Edward Snowden from the country.

"In any case, I would like not to deal with such issues
because it is like shearing a pig: there's lots of squealing and
little fleece," Putin said.

Hayden said that the pending U.S. charges against him
should be enough to warrant expelling Snowden, and warned Russia
of the potential harm to bilateral relations between the two
countries if it did not comply.

The full statement:

"We've seen
comments by Foreign Minister Lavrov and President Putin and we
understand that Russia must consider the issues raised by Mr.
Snowden's decision to travel there. We agree with President Putin
that we do not want this issue to negatively impact our bilateral
relations. While we do not have an extradition treaty with
Russia, there is nonetheless a clear legal basis to expel Mr.
Snowden, based on the status of his travel documents and the
pending charges against him. Accordingly, we are asking the
Russian Government to take action to expel Mr. Snowden without
delay and to build upon the strong law enforcement cooperation we
have had, particularly since the Boston Marathon bombing."